


we could (but will we?)

by phoenyxies



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Canon Related, F/F, Femslash, Fluff and Humor, Friends to Lovers, Pulling Off Heists, Romance, Running From Guards, Sneaking Around, my yearning is showing!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-15
Updated: 2019-09-15
Packaged: 2020-10-18 16:50:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,378
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20642462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phoenyxies/pseuds/phoenyxies
Summary: Keyleth was the worst choice for a lookout.When Vex asks her to help her out with a secret mission in town, there was no way she'd turn her down. But then it goes wrong, and gets better. A lot better.





	we could (but will we?)

Keyleth was the worst choice for a lookout.

She was perfectly fine to come on a shopping trip, with Vex. She was totally set to hang out, with Vex. In fact, when she had been hanging out in the garden and trying to save a wilted rosemary bush in the measly collection she had there in Greyskull Keep and Vex had walked up with a glint in her eyes, she was totally on board. She would always be on board for Vex.

But usually it was Vax or Scanlan pulling off some heist or gathering information. Not to say that people couldn’t branch out, she’s seen Scanlan lift some heavy shit. And Vax can be charming. Very charming! Super charming, actually.

Keyleth had just been expecting a really nice day out with Vex. She had been picturing roaming through shops, watching Vex card through the fancy clothes while she banters with the shopkeep, pretending she was busy with the first glittery thing she saw so she didn’t watch her friend any longer than the usual few seconds. Keyleth had a routine, she had a semi-plan set up! She was a woman with a mission!

Nothing ever went to plan for them, though, Which she should’ve expected.

Instead, Vex had taken her by the hand, said some very important things that she definitely did not hear clear enough, and now they were totally doing something illegal. Keyleth had been standing outside the opening to the office for a good few minutes now, only hearing a faint click or a small whir from inside occasionally. A footstep echoed, and she jumped, peering in the direction she thought it came from. Waiting a few seconds, she sighed in relief when no one came up. 

“Keyleth, darling?” said Vex from deep inside the darkened room, and the druid poked her head inside.

“Yeah, what's up?” 

“Nothing, I'm doing well. Just wanted to hear your pretty voice.” 

Keyleth felt her cheeks immediately flare red and she awkwardly scooted back out of the doorway, pressing herself flat against the rocky stone wall. “Okay! Neat! Cool.” she squeaked back, hearing a laugh from Vex inside. Keyleth tried to frown against the smile growing on her face before adding on, “Just call if you need me!”

“Will do.” Vex replied, and Keyleth wiped at her cheeks with the palm of her hand. Stupid face, she got red so quickly. 

A clatter in the darkened corridor right outside the door, and close to her, which sent Keyleth into a panic. She fumbled with her staff before veering to the direction of the sound, squinting to make out a shape. A small black shape moved just a bit, and she braced herself to call for Vex. 

Instead of a big angry human person, out of the shadows came a small, young cat. It mewed, swishing its calico tail and watching her with big orange eyes. Keyleth blinked, then smiled as she relaxed against the stone. Just a tiny cat.

She went back to watching both sides of the corridor, one hand on her staff and the other playing with the fringe of a cloak she borrowed from Vex.

The hood had enough room to encompass her antlers, and it made her whole visage way more mysterious than the usual very recognizable clothes she wore on missions. It also made it seem like she had horns! Which was kind of neat.

Maybe she should get one for herself. They were really useful. Or she could just ask Vex for this one. Smiling to herself, Keyleth brought the fabric up to her cheek, thumb running against the thread. 

She glanced back over to where the cat had been, now gone and probably stalking around a different alleyway. Watching the end of the alley, which led to the street, Keyleth continued to survey the space around her. 

A barely audible yowl pricked her ears, and her head swiveled to the end of the alley again. A few beats passed, and she saw the same cat from earlier streaking past, a flash of orange and black accompanied by the sound of jeering from farther down.

Keyleth didn't even hesitate to bolt through the open door. She narrowly missed an askew table, and hip checked the other doorway deeper in. She found Vex fiddling with a safe, the floorboards removed and placed to the side in an even pile. If she wasn't in such a hurry, Keyleth would spend a few minutes being absolutely charmed by the messy braided bun Vex had put her hair into.

“Someone's coming.” Keyleth hissed quietly. Vex cursed under her breath and hastily grabbed a few bundles of paper. She helped her put the floorboards back in place, which only looked a little loose. Considering the hurry they were in, it was a wonderful job. 

The papers in the bag at Vex’s side, Keyleth stood from the floor. The voices could now be barely heard from how deep they were into the room. Quickly, she helped Vex stand up and pulled her along into a corner she'd noticed when running through.

“Fuck. Shit. They're right outside, aren't they? How are we going to do this?” Vex muttered under her breath, eyes darting across the room. Keyleth gulped, and fumbled for Vex’s hand. If it wasn't for the situation, she could've mistaken the sudden flush across the ranger’s face for something else, but she wasn't focused on that.

“Wait right by the door. I'll dart out, lead them deeper into the alley, then wildshape into something and catch up with you. Okay?” Keyleth glared into Vex’s gaze, holding it. Vex opened her mouth to protest, she could see it in her eyes, but Keyleth felt a sudden burst of resolve in her chest. 

“No.” Her fingers tightened around Vex’s, and the other’s eyes widened, stunned. The retort died on her lips. Keyleth mustered up a smile, her heart thundering and aware her fingers were probably very clammy. Oh dear. “We’re doing this. It's happening. Come on.”

Keeping the grip, Keyleth pulled her along and towards the door. The lack of resistance made her feel a little more confident about this, because holy _fuck _ this was crazy, what was she doing, she couldn't sneak for anything, w-

They had reached the door, and she was shocked back to the present by Vex pulling on her hand. She turned back to look at her, about to argue her point again even if she was really not sure she could pull this off. Keyleth only saw the look of unsure steeliness in Vex’s eyes for a moment before she felt her gloved hand on her jaw, turning her face so Vex could plant a kiss on her cheek. It was hasty, hurried, and the corner of her lips pressed just barely against Keyleth’s, and the druid very quickly short-circuited. 

“Be careful, Keyleth. I won't be able to live with myself if I have to watch you get dragged away in chains or something. Really, it's my fault I brought you with me.”

Keyleth had to blink a few times to regain any ability to say anything that wasn't packed with stuttering. “I-I will. Yeah. Don't worry. I'll meet you back at Greyskull, okay? Just keep running when you get the cue. And the cue is when they're coming after me. You be. You be careful too.” She offered another weak smile, which Vex returned. She let go of Vex’s hand, and they shared one last long look before Keyleth gripped the door handle. 

She threw it open, and wasted no time. In a flash, she was out of the door. With a sharp right and her hood thrown up over her head and antlers, Keyleth was taking off as fast as she could. She'd felt her arm brush with someone else’s and, on the way out, heard a loud gruff shout of orders. Through the roaring of adrenaline in her ears, she could barely make out maybe three or four sets of heavy footsteps. Ahead, the alley ended in an almost complete stop. There were small gaps that were the spaces between the assorted buildings. If she wanted, a mouse could easily run between those. Or an air escape, with a hawk or robin that could fly right above their heads. 

A sharp, familiar thwip flew by her ear, followed by a prick of pain. Keyleth’s hand moved up, and she felt a small trickle of blood as she watched an unfamiliar arrow embed itself in the wall ahead. Well. A mouse was totally out of the question then. She would be stuck in a gap if hit with one of those . But with a bird, she risked the chance of going down in midair.

By now Vex should be out of sight and at least on the way to Greyskull. So this was up to her. With a deep breath, she risked a glance behind her. Like she thought, there were three men, weapons drawn and a single bow at the ready. 

The end of the alley was coming fast, and in quick impulsiveness, Keyleth threw her hand behind her, aimed at the archer. A sunbeam shot out of her palm, and hit the man’s bow spot on. He cried out in half-pain, half-surprise as the simple wood disintegrated in his palm. The other men almost skidded to a stop too, as a look of realization crept onto their faces. Their heads whipped back to Keyleth, but in that split second her form had collapsed into a simple golden hawk. She had used her momentum and the rest of the space between herself and the wall to soar upwards. With a few flaps of her wings, she was high above the buildings and looking down. 

Her plan was to fly back to Greyskull Keep, like they had planned. A glance down, however, changed her plans. She could see a Vex-like figure still lingering at the mouth of the alley. Quickly she descended, the soldiers still clustered at the end of the alley trying to figure out where she had gone. Apparently they hadn't seen the giant hawk.

She flew down low, gliding on the wind. Vex was still peering down the alley, and she glanced towards Keyleth, then did a double take. With a laugh, Keyleth shifted back mid-flight, hand outstretched where her wing had been and grabbing onto Vex’s free hand. There was a shout from the soldiers, but it didn't matter. Keyleth was pulling Vex again again, the two of them twisting and ducking into whatever streets and alleys had an entrance and exit. Her heart was thundering in her chest, an uncontrollable grin stretching across her face.

“I thought we agreed on Greyskull!” Keyleth shot a look back at Vex, who was visibly dumbfounded and ecstatic. There was a warm, intense look in her eyes that sent a shiver down Keyleth’s spine, and she quickly looked ahead again.

“I know, but there was a lot more guards than I expected and I didn't want to leave you in case something did go wrong, darling. It looks like you didn't need any help at all after all.” Vex said back.

Keyleth quickly pulled the two of them into another alley, this one shadowed and allowing them to huddle in the darkness. Panting, she grinned.

“Yeah! That went way better than I was expecting, honestly! Did you-did you see the sunbeam? I hit him square on!” she said giddily, nerves buzzing still. Vex nodded, laughing. 

“I did, that was.. amazing, Keyleth, really.” 

There wasn't much room in the alley she had pulled her into, so Keyleth could feel Vex’s breathing shakily fall back down. She couldn't stop grinning, or laughing. Vex held a finger to her lips, shushing her. The laughter died down a little, but only because Keyleth had found something else to focus on.

Vex was disheveled, from the running and ducking and the wind that had been billowing around them. Her braided bun had fallen into disarray, and wisps of hair framed the corners of her sharp jawline. Her eyes were drawn to Vex’s lip, crested with slight callouses from the rough travels but still soft. Keyleth glanced back up at Vex, quiet now. Her heart was still thumping, like a stick against the drum playing in her head. 

Vex was gazing back at her, and her hand slowly fell from her mouth. Keyleth’s face was burning again, but she didn't raise a hand to hide it. 

“You know,” Keyleth said, voice soft. The air felt sharp, and quiet. “We definitely lost them back there. We could leave.”

They could just pull away and walk back to Greyskull, and let the moment pass by. They could. But a part of Keyleth didn't want them to. 

Vex seemed to consider that, gaze moving down just the slightest bit, her smooth skin flushed. “We could.” she said simply, looking back up at Keyleth.

“We could.” she repeated back, their gazes locked again. Her breath stuttered as Vex’s sleeve brushed against her arm. 

Vex moved to pull Keyleth’s hood down, untangling it from her antlers and adjusting it around her neck. Her fingers lingered at the crest of her neck, and Keyleth could feel the pads of her fingers just barely press against her skin. She let out a long, shuddering breath, and moved a hand to grasp at Vex’s wrist.

Vex looked back up at her again, eyes shining. Her face was so close, and she could feel her breath against her lips. Her palm pushed against Keyleth’s cheek. Vex’s nose was just against the tip of Keyleth’s, and she didn’t move any further. For the first time, Vex’s eyes shone with uncertainty. She had never seen the half-elf so nervous before.

Vex’s mouth opened to say something, but Keyleth never got to hear it. She moved forward just a bit and captured Vex’s lips in her own, a soft chaste press before she pulled back.

Vex stared up at her with an intensity that certainly wasn’t there a few seconds ago. Keyleth laughed, and Vex grinned before taking Keyleth’s face in her hands to kiss her harder.

It took them a while to get back to Greyskull Keep.

**Author's Note:**

> [couldn't put it in the beginning because it'd spoil so here's the tumblr post that prompted this hehe](https://sungfs.tumblr.com/post/182867907176/no-offense-but-two-characters-running-from-the)
> 
> also... multi-chapter project coming out...… hopefully by the end of september. it's critical role. stay tuned. B)
> 
> ( hint: its not green anymore! it's... blue? )


End file.
